City P&Z gives green light to power plant plan

A request to expand the conditional use permit to operate a natural gas fired energy production facility moved one step closer to approval Jan. 3 after a public hearing set before city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

Members of the P&Z unanimously voted to send the request forward to the city council with a "do pass" recommendation.

It has been nearly three years since Mountain View Power Inc. first approached the city for a conditional use permit to construct a power generating plant in the city's industrial park. Under the terms of the conditional use permit, power production is currently limited to a maximum 180 megawatts (MW) of generation.

Ground was broken last summer for the facility which is expected to be in operation by June of this year when the Bennett Mountain Plant will be turned over to Idaho Power.

The request to double the maximum capacity of the plant from 180 MW to 360 MW will allow the power utility company to better meet peak demands of the future if it should decide to construct an additional generator on the same property.

The Bennett Mountain plant will become the second natural gas-fired generation station owned by Idaho Power in Mountain Home. The first was the 90-MW Danskin Power Plant located in the Evander Andrews Power Complex north of Mountain Home.

Speaking in support of the request, Ron Swearingen, director of the city's economic development office, explained he had been working with the Mountain View developers for nearly three years. He noted the tremendous economic impact the Bennett Mountain plant will have on the community. He explained the successful efforts to have the tax laws changed so the taxes paid by the public utility would be returned to the host community rather than being spread throughout the utility's entire service area. For Mountain Home, the change meant that instead of the $6,400 share of tax revenues, the community will now receive $170,000 the facility is expected to bring through taxes -- a significant increase with little impact on the infrastructure. He noted, for example, there has been no request for an increase in water supply. It remains at the 250 gallons per minute level.

Although the original conditional use permit was granted, and the expansion is being requested by Mountain View Power, Inc., the project will be turned over to Idaho Power. The CUP is for the property, not the owner/operator.

With more than a dozen people attending the public hearing, there was no testimony in opposition to the request to expand the conditional use permit. However, several citizens did have some questions about specific areas of concerns.

Joe Twitchell, a neighboring property owner, explained that 15th Street had been used extensively during the installation of power poles and gas lines for the project. He said he had been assured the road would be restored -- and some work had already been done toward that effort. But now he wondered if expansion would mean the road would be repaired only to be torn up again.

Mountain View Power representatives Ron Williams and Leonard Hutterman explained that once the poles and gas lines are in place to service the facility, there should be little need for further road work. The restoration of the road will continue, weather permitting, and be completed before the end of the construction project.

A spokesperson for Three Spring employees said they had a number of questions. They wanted to know if there had been any studies on the health effects caused by the close proximity to the power generating facility and possible emissions.

Williams explained long term studies on the health effects of electromagnetic fields have been done with all the safety factors taken into consideration. Emission from the plant fall well below recommended acceptable levels. He assured the spokesperson that the power production plant is not a safety issue.

Three Springs employees also had concerns about noise levels of the operation of the generating plant.

As stated in the original CUP, the typical noise production of the plant will be 60 decibels at 300 feet. Although the city's standards set the limit at 80 decibels, Williams explained Idaho Power paid to have its noise suppression meet the more stringent requirements of the county.

Hutterman noted that he and some of the Three Springs employees had recently visited the Danskin site and the visitors could not detect an increased noise when the generators kicked into operation while they were at the site.

Art Isaac questioned why the expanded CUP was being requested for a site so close to Mountain Home. He also expressed concerns for noise levels and asked if the company would be willing to put sound barriers up if noise became a problem.

Williams explained the request to expand the CUP is to allow for future growth. When Idaho Power proposes construction of another generator, they will be looking over a large area of southwest Idaho for the best location for the company. That may mean expanding an existing site or it may be in a different location. The request to expand the CUP at this time will just give them another option when they get ready to build.

The P&Z recommendation to approve the request to expand the CUP will be forwarded to the city council for final action.